Archbishop of Oviedo decries claim secularism is sole voice of reason

Madrid, Spain, Feb 3, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- The Archbishop of Oviedo, Carlos Osoro, commenting this week on the recent message of Pope John Paul II to the Spanish bishops, said secularism poses a risk for religious freedom.

Archbishop Osoro rejected allegations that the Pope was referring to intimidation against the Church and explained that the Pope was instead “alerting” the bishops about the problem of secularism—also referred to in Europe as “laicism”—“that ideology that, presenting itself as the sole voice of rationality, leads to the restriction of religious freedom.”

According to the archbishop, at this moment in history, “an comprehensive humanism is what is we need to proclaim most” and religious freedom “cannot be curtailed” or silenced, “without depriving man of something fundamental that belongs to the essence of human beings themselves.”

Archbishop Osoro also reiterate the right of young people “to be educated in the faith,” because “religious teaching cannot be left out of comprehensive education.”

The Church should not cease in her efforts to reach out to teenagers, who “need to know Jesus Christ” and the road that mankind should follow.